Boiron takes a hit from French homeopathy move

Boiron's sales in its home market of France dropped by 12.7% in the first quarter of 2020, following changes to the reimbursement of homeopathic medicines.

The French homeopathy specialist said sales had been hit by an “organised smear campaign”.

The French government cut the reimbursement rate for homeopathic medicines from 30% to 15% from 1 January 2020 and plans to end reimbursement altogether from 1 January 2021 (click here to read the News story).

Performance by region

The majority of Boiron's turnover, 46.5%, was generated in France where sales of EUR72.8 million (USD79.6 million) were down by 12.7% compared to the same period a year earlier.

By contrast, sales in the rest of Europe were up by 18.1% at constant exchange rates to EUR37.6 million.

Sales in North America increased by 65.9% at constant exchange rates to EUR40.3 million. Boiron said growth had been boosted by a comparison with the first quarter of 2019 when sales were down by a fifth.

Sales in other countries were up by 41.7% to EUR5.96 million.

Worldwide sales increased by 8.8% at constant exchange rates to EUR157 million in the first quarter of 2020. Including the impact of currency translations, sales as reported were up by 9.3%.

Boiron said it did not expect to see growth continue into the second quarter of 2020.

Commenting on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Boiron said it had maintained production and distribution of all of its medicines at its sites in France and abroad.